WQSV Profile:
Valley Libraries
Radio Reference

Tell us about yourself and how you came to be involved with the Radio Reference and WQSV.

Ali McCue, Public Services Librarian (Staunton): I’m Ali McCue and I’m the Public Services Librarian for the Staunton Public Library. Verona/Staunton native, living in Staunton and thoroughly enjoying it. I’ve been volunteering with WQSV almost since the very beginning! I’d known initial station manager Tom DuMontier since I was a teenager and he asked me to do a weekly Arts & Events Calendar when the station first opened. In summer 2017, as I was working for the Augusta County Library, Sarah Skrobis, transitioning to director of the Staunton Public Library, mentioned how cool it would be to be the Nancy Pearl of local radio and I said, “Well, hey I think we can make that happen.” I pitched the radio reference spot to Tom, who thought it was a great idea, invited in the Waynesboro Public Library to make it a true community collab, and here we are 5.5 years later!

Sarah Skrobis, Director of Library Services (Staunton): I’m the Director of the Staunton Public Library and have been involved with Radio Reference from its inception in 2017. I had thought it would be fun if we could share reading ideas with radio listeners. I mentioned it to Ali McCue, and she took the idea and ran with it!

Hannah Lickey, Churchville Branch Manager and Children’s Librarian (Augusta County): My name is Hannah. I am a branch manager and children’s and outreach librarian for Augusta County. I have a dog, two rats and a bunch of plants! My home library is Churchville. I originally came from Richmond, VA but found the country suits me much better than the city and I’ve been in the valley for about 5 years now. I became involved with Radio Reference and WQSV through Ali McCue as a great outreach opportunity!

Keith Bell, Adult Services Librarian (Augusta County): I’m Keith Bell, an adult services librarian at the Augusta County Library that handles programming and outreach, and I became involved with radio reference through my outreach position and through the recommendation of my coworkers. I’m a digital media and communication major, so recording myself and talking about all kinds of media is a self-confessed guilty pleasure (and apparently something I should know how to do, but who really knows?)

Lizzy Hill, Youth Service Librarian (Staunton): I am the Youth Services Librarian at the Staunton Public Library and occasionally contribute children’s and teen book recommendations to the Radio Reference series. You may also hear me suggesting graphic novels and horror for all ages.

Jamie Kollar, Youth Services Librarian (Waynesboro): I’m a youth services librarian and a recovering theater kid. I’ve always loved performing — I used to do plays and dance, now I do story times for toddlers. A couple of years ago, a coworker at WPL was doing Radio Reference and had way too many other things going on, and she knew I was comfortable with performing so she asked if I wanted to take over some of the spots. Obviously I did, and I’ve been doing it ever since (with a pause during the COVID shutdown). Also, not related to Radio Reference, but since I’m a librarian people always ask if I have cats. I do. I have two cats, and they’re the best cats anybody has ever had.

Anne Yetzer-Jones, Adult Services Librarian (Waynesboro): I have worked at Waynesboro Public Library for 6 and a half years, in various positions. I received my Master’s of Library Science in 2021, and also became the Adult Services Librarian for WPL that year. I’ve been doing some of the Radio Reference since then. It’s been a great tool to push our favorites in genre specific categories, and everyone’s is different, so there is a spectrum readers and listeners can choose their titles from.

What was the first book that made an impact on you?

AM: Just one?! Yeesh, the first one. I always loved the language and storytelling of the Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling – How the Elephant Got Its Trunk, How the Camel Got Its Hump, etc. They were refreshingly different from traditional princess stories or fairy tales, and while a wee bit problematic now considering the time and culture they were written, they’ve always stuck with me.

SS: The Baby-Sitters Club series. I was already a voracious reader, but these books took it to the next level for me, and I aspired to be like the characters. Looking back, I think it’s because there weren’t as many depictions of resourceful and smart yet quirky girls, and it may have been the first time I recognized myself in a book.

HL: I remember reading Catcher in the Rye when I was 15 and it really resonated with me. To this day I refuse to re-read the book because I know it won’t have the same impact it did when I was an angsty teenager.

KB: Man, there’s like a ton of books I could list, but the two I continually revisit as I think about books that were a centerpiece of my growing up, falling in love with reading, and poorly imitating mischievous characters, I have to say Jeff Kinney’s underrated cult-classic Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley. One led to a rogue-heroism perspective in my middle school days and the other led to me drawing a mustache on my cousin while she was sleeping, thinking that if I also drew one on myself she wouldn’t suspect it was me.

LH: Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren and The Witches by Roald Dahl.

JK: The Midnight Castle by Consuelo Joerns. My dad read it to me before bed when I was a kid, and I was obsessed with it. He had to keep making up new adventures for the characters because one story wasn’t enough for me.

AY-J: Oh, that’s a really hard one…one of the first books I can remember my teacher reading to us was The Fenches’ Fabulous Furnace. I was a big fan of the Book It! Pizza challenge in elementary school and have loved to read since I was around 9 years old or so. Anne of Green Gables series was another one that really impacted me in my elementary years. I saw a lot of myself in Anne Shirley.

Who are some of your favorite authors and why?

AM: I really admire authors that take difficult subjects and make them accessible, whether it’s looking at racism through the lens of magic vs non-magic, a romance that features the dangers of football head injuries, a retelling of familiar myth from the villain’s perspective, or family dysfunction in the form of kids bursting into flame when they’re upset. There are so many wonderful authors out there, I just try to read a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction with an eye to diversity and inclusion.

SS: I love writers who can examine deep human relationships and who wrap hope and heartbreak all into one book. That’s why I love adult fiction writer Louise Erdrich and teen author Melina Marchetta. I’ve also become a huge romance reader over the course of the pandemic – talk about escapism! I love authors like Alyssa Cole and Sarah MacLean for featuring complex – yet fun — female leads.

HL: Neil Gaiman is my all-time favorite author. The way he writes is poetic, charismatic but also accessible. He covers such exciting topics, and his fantasies are top tier. There’s always something spooky, something heartfelt and something that will surprise you.

KB: Off the top, I really enjoy Ernest Cline. I think he’s the perfect example of an author that is technically not the most proficient in his writing, but who’s so passionate in his storytelling and about embodying the pop culture that influenced him that his books are infectious and fun and purely enjoyable. He serves as a reminder that books, like any medium, can be enjoyed solely for the sake of enjoyment rather than for a higher purpose. Also, it’s a pretty meta and baller move to get Steven Spielberg to adapt your book into film. I also have to shout out Rick Riordan for getting me and an entire generation of people into reading with his Percy Jackson series and for providing a platform for new and upcoming writers to publish diverse mythological books with characters that all people can identify with. I mean, Percy Jackson really united a lot of people – I was reading it, the popular kids were reading it, your brother and your brother’s sister were reading it, someone’s great aunt probably was too. If that’s not an example of the power of literature and a good story, I don’t know what is. Also, the movie adaptations are over-hated and the casino scene was a life-altering moment.

LH: I don’t necessarily have favorite authors, but I do like everything I’ve read by Flannery O’Connor, Laurie Halse Anderson, Neal Shusterman, James Herriot, and children’s illustrators Christian Robinson and LeUyen Pham.

JK: Natasha Pulley writes amazing historical fiction with fantasy elements, a really cool combination of magic and early science. Zoraida Córdova writes mainly magical realism, she has this great storytelling voice that really draws you in. Margaret Owen writes young adult fantasy and is absolutely brilliant at creating characters that are incredibly flawed and incredibly lovable. Paul Tremblay writes some of the most psychologically creepy stories you’ll ever read. Lindsey Fitzharris writes about medical history and makes it accessible and compelling without sacrificing detail.

AY-J: I love almost anything that Kristin Hannah writes; I tend to go through them fairly quickly. I love Abby Jimenez, and have loved her since before she became an author. I love David Sedaris. I love Glennon Doyle and Brené Brown in nonfiction.

How is the theme for the week’s VLRR determined? Do you have any particular criteria for your book recommendations?

AM: It’s a team effort, for sure. Each month, a representative from each library weighs in with ideas for the weekly spots, then we decide together which topics to feature and who on each library’s team would be the best fit for the topic. For example, Lizzy is our Youth Services Librarian, so she’s going to have WAY better choices for children’s books than I would! We strive to highlight POC authors and titles with diverse perspectives and experiences. That’s part of a public library’s mission – to make accessible underrepresented populations and viewpoints. While we usually do books, we also feature audiobooks, movies, music, and TV shows if it makes sense with the theme – even the non-traditional collections like telescopes, musical instruments, cake pans, and seed libraries!

SS: We usually throw out a bunch of ideas for the month and see what sticks. In terms of criteria, we have a guiding document that we compiled that says we will always spotlight items that can be found in either our digital or physical collections and that promoting books by authors of diverse backgrounds is critical to ensure that underrepresented voices are included. For me in particular, I like to say that authors like James Patterson don’t need my help – I don’t have to recommend him, because his books are already popular, and they check out without us having to promote them. But I do want to connect readers with authors who aren’t getting that same level of exposure to ensure that the publishing industry continues to take risks on new writers and stories.

HL: The criteria I use for my book recommendations are simply choosing something I genuinely enjoy or am excited about! That’s why so many of my segments cover horror or something less mainstream. I’ve always looked for alternative titles that might be turned down because they are perceived as “too dark.”

KB: So, it starts as an open forum/email chain for the Radio Reference coordinators for each library, where we kind of just propose ideas and what might be fitting for the month, the holidays, etc. My personal process is to look at what the overall themes are for the month, then look at what the national month is, specific holidays or highlighted things, etc. Then, we kind of just go from there, discussing what specific things we think are important to highlight that month. Criteria wise, it kind of just depends on what the decided theme is. A base criteria is to make sure we have a diversity of selections and authors and to include a mix of youth and adult literature. The recommendations also all need to be available directly through the library or through one of our online services like Hoopla or Libby. From there, it’s dependent on the theme we go with. As an example, if the theme for one of the weeks is Romance, what kind of romance are we going for? If it’s possible within our selected themes, I also try to branch out from books and highlight things like movies, music, specific resources at the library, and other things.

JK: We always look for holidays and observations that lend themselves to themes, but to be honest, sometimes we just pick a genre or type that we like and haven’t covered in a while. Not everything needs to be seasonally themed! I try to bring in some children’s and teen titles sometimes, but I also don’t get a chance to rave about my favorite adult titles in the regular course of my job, so sometimes radio spots are my chance to do that. Mainly I just want to share books that I’m excited about and that listeners might not have found otherwise.

AY-J: My WPL counterpart, Jamie Kollar usually lets me know what the selections are for the month’s picks for VLRR, and we usually know which selections better fit each of us. I like to read romance and contemporary fiction, and lots of other selections, she tends to read nonfiction. We’re pretty good about sharing selections! When making a selection, I try to find out of the ordinary authors and titles, items that may not first catch the eye, but that have merit. I always try to find diverse authors from various walks of life.

What is your favorite aspect of working at the library?

AM: All of you out there! Staunton is such a wonderful, supportive community to her library. Every day, people come in and tell us how much they love the libraries, the selection, the warm and welcoming staff, the programs. Everyone who works here believes in the library’s place in the community and the community reflects that back to us, whether it’s using our local history collection to do genealogy research, using the free job resources to build a great resume, or bringing kids to story times. The library is the one place where you can come in and use everything you see with no expectation of spending money, so we love to see people using all we have to offer.

SS: I love helping people get connected with resources that mean something to them, and that could be an important source of accurate information, a new technology skill, or just a really good book to read. And I love, love, love getting to know the people of Staunton.

HL: My favorite aspect of working in the library is definitely the people! I really enjoy being a community worker and feeling like I can make a difference in people’s lives, even if it’s just in a small way.

KB: People. I love people, and most of us go into this field with the ultimate goal of reaching and helping people. We are who we are because of each other, so, to me, my job allows me to see, meet, and form relationships with a massive range of people, which is important to staying open minded and understanding that at the end of the day, we’re all human beings and by virtue of that we are all capable of forming relationships with and loving one another. It’s not always easy, but the library environment serves as a good reminder that human connection, interaction, and relationships are universal and a thing we all desire, need, and are capable of.

LH: I honestly just love talking to young people about books and helping them find things to read (or to listen to or to watch). If I could do only that all day long, I would be in heaven.

JK: I never expected to love working with little kids as much as I do. Toddlers have such strong personalities, they’re so completely themselves and they haven’t learned to care what anybody else thinks about them. It’s so much fun to be around. I’m always a little sad when I see them start getting self-conscious and reigning themselves in.

AY-J: I love helping people, and I also love how each day is a little bit different than the last. I love helping patrons close the digital divide and providing digital literacy skills to patrons. I love finding a book or two for a patron and helping them discover their own taste in books. I am also a huge fan of audiobooks and feel that people shouldn’t be embarrassed that they like them; it’s the oldest form of storytelling, predating print! There’s a book out there for every single person.

On to music: what was the first concert you attended?

AM: My dad took me to a Backstreet Boys concert when I was 11 and I am here to tell you it was freakin’ awesome. Ask him, he’ll agree.

SS: My parents let me go to see Janet Jackson when I was in seventh grade! It was amazing!

HL: The first concert I attended was Weird Al at Kings Dominion when I was 10! But I like to also claim Green Day as my first “real” concert in their 2006 tour.

KB: A couple of years ago I went to a Dan + Shay concert with my fiancée. I never considered myself a country music type of fella, but slowly my fiancée has indoctrinated me (though it’s probably still on the bottom 5 of my top 5 genres). I do find it humorous that my liked playlist can flip from hardcore rage rap to country ballads on a dime, but I call that good taste. I’m going to a Thomas Rhett concert this year and eventually, by the grandiose power of the universe, I will see Yung Gravy live.

LH: No Doubt with opener Weezer.

JK: 1945, with the Moto-Litas opening. It was in the basement concert space at a bar, and the main set ended when the drummer got up halfway through a song, walked offstage, and didn’t come back. The rest of the band promised us they’re “not usually such a**holes.”

AY-J: Oh, I was a late bloomer with this one! I didn’t attend my first live concert until 2018, but it started a huge pastime for me! My first concert was when P!nk came to JPJ in Charlottesville. Since then, I’ve been to 9 other concerts, with a wide range of music genres, from Post Malone, to the Indigo Girls, to Brandi Carlile, and even Chris Isaak.

What have you been listening to or watching lately?

AM: I finally started watching Reservation Dogs which is amazing. I inhaled both seasons of White Lotus, like everyone else in the world and I’m impatiently waiting for the second season of Yellowjackets to come out! I listen mostly to NPR, to be perfectly honest, but when I’m feelin’ groovy I always put on WQSV! I love to just pick a song I liked from the radio and tell my music app to make a playlist around it. I’m admittedly pretty terrible about keeping up with new music releases lately, so I appreciate my more music-centric pals who tell me when something truly excellent comes out.

SS: I recently watched Reservation Dogs about a group of native teens who live on a reservation in Oklahoma, and it is hands down the best TV show I’ve seen in a very long time. I’d spotlight it on Radio Reference, but sadly, it’s not out on DVD yet so the libraries don’t have it.

HL: I’m a podcast fiend. One of my favorites is Noble Blood with Dana Schwartz. It’s an educational and macabre podcast into the history of nobles and their deviances across the globe. If you’re into history I highly recommend this podcast.

KB: I’m a big music and movie head, but lately music has been my go to. I listen to a huge range of music, but my favorite genre is hip hop, so lately I’ve been listening to a lot of artists related to that, with some pop, country, and throwback jams sprinkled in. Most recently, I listened to “Melt My Eyez See Your Future” by Denzel Curry, Drake’s 2013 classic “Nothing Was The Same,” Trippie Red’s recently dropped album, “MANSION MUSIK” and a pair of Oliver Tree albums, “Ugly Is Beautiful” and “Cowboy Tears”. If I were to throw out some recommendations, some of my favorite albums from the past couple of years have been “The Melodic Blue” by Baby Keem, “The Forever Story” by JID, “bag or die” by bbno$, “It Was Fun While It Lasted” by Sueco, “Heroes & Villains” by Metro Boomin’, and “CHARLIE” by Charlie Puth, among many others. I also need to give a shout out to the up and coming JELEEL!, who makes super upbeat, super hype hip hop music and is a completely independent artist. In regard to movies, my favorite director is Edgar Wright and my favorite movie is “Blindspotting,” by director Carlos Lopez Estrada. Recently, I’ve been watching a lot of rom coms with my fiancée, and we’re currently binge watching “Modern Family” and “Hell’s Kitchen” and watching football.

LH: My family just finished up the last season of the Netflix version of A Series of Unfortunate Events, which we really enjoyed. Other than that, I pretty much only watch K-Pop and Korean variety show content (I got into K-Pop during the pandemic like some people got into baking or gardening). You can catch me listening to either a K-Pop playlist or a true crime podcast, depending on my mood.

JK: The YouTube algorithm recommended Alina Pash a few months ago, and I’m kind of obsessed. I also have to mention Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, who I’ve loved since I first started getting into music I didn’t get from my parents, and Florence + The Machine.

AY-J: Brandi Carlile is always in the top rotation in all of my playlists. I received concert tickets for her concert in TN with P!nk for Christmas. I highly recommend listening to Brandi Carlile’s book, Broken Horses as an audiobook–she plays relevant songs at the end of most chapters. I also love Ray LaMontagne, John Prine, Allison Russell, and many others. Music is a huge part of my world.

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